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China Walks Out of Wireless LAN Security Talks

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-one-way-to-get-what-you-want dept.

Ant writes "A CommsDesign article reports that China walked out of a wireless standards meeting this week, accusing the International Organization for Standardization of favoring the IEEE's 802.11i ANSI-certified wireless LAN security scheme over its own controverisal proposal, EE Times has learned. The gambit came after China's Wireless Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) security scheme was withdrawn and placed on a slower track by the ISO." From the article: "China initially agreed last year to refrain from making its WAPI security scheme mandatory for wireless LAN equipment in China. It then approached ISO with a fast-track submission in an effort to make WAPI an international security standard."

17 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. The article... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    China walks out of wifi talks
    By Chris Johnston, Times Online

    Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary, today urged China to go back to the negotiating table after it withdrew from talks on its wifi programme.

    China announced last night that it has wifi, which it claims are necessary to counter US aggression.

    The secretive communist state withdrew from talks designed to reduce tension in the area.

    Speaking in London, Mr Annan urged the other parties to the talks - including the US, China and Taiwan - to encourage China to return to the negotiations.

    Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, warned China would be making "a major mistake" if it continued to stay away from talks.

    Mr Annan said: "I expect that with efforts by the other countries involved, China can be brought back to the table. I would urge them to engage with China and bring them back to the table and for talks to resume as soon as possible."

    Mr Straw echoed the Secretary General's comments, adding: "It would be a major mistake by the DPRC (Democratic Peoples Republic of China) were they to go down this route."

    Mr Annan is in London promoting plans for reform of the UN drawn up following bitter wrangling within the international community over the Iraq war.

    A high-level panel commissioned by the Secretary General in 2003 produced a report last December setting out recommendations for reform, many of which have been strongly backed by Britain.

    They include expanding the Security Council to reflect the world's changing balance of power and new guidelines on UN intervention to allow faster intervention where civilians are threatened by the actions of their own government.

    "Today we face threats to world order and world peace of a kind and a scale that we have not seen since the height of the Cold War," Mr Annan said. "But if we can agree on ways to respond effectively to those threats, we also have a unique opportunity to build a world that will be safer, fairer and freer for all."

    Mr Straw said he endorsed the report's central recommendation that the UN should be more prepared to take preventative action against potential threats from terrorism or rogue states. "The central issue is collective security and the use of force," he said.

    The Prime Minister also hailed the panel's report as "a remarkable achievement" and strongly endorsed Mr Annan, who has come under fire over allegations that millions from the UN-administered Oil-for-Food programme were misdirected.

    Introducing the Secretary General at the Banqueting House in London's Whitehall, he said: "He has handled himself with very great distinction, with a lot of wisdom and, in difficult circumstances, has been a tremendous unifier."

    Mr Annan later said he did not believe the Oil-for-Food scandal had undermined his authority to push through reform of the UN. "I think the member states are well aware of what happened with that scheme and the complex nature of the scheme," he said.

    "We have set up a very competent, independent panel to look at it because we are concerned about it and want to get to the bottom of it. Their first report has indicated that they are determined to get to the bottom of it and not to do a whitewash, as some people have claimed."
  2. Can't fault China... by bigtallmofo · · Score: 4, Funny

    This really isn't China's fault. I used to do this kind of thing too when I was playing marbles around the age of 4. If things didn't go my way, I'd round up all my marbles and stomp off on my way home.

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
    1. Re:Can't fault China... by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

      I used to do this kind of thing too when I was playing marbles around the age of 4. If things didn't go my way, I'd round up all my marbles and stomp off on my way home.

      Wow. How did you engineer a secret backdoor into your marble game?

    2. Re:Can't fault China... by op00to · · Score: 2, Funny

      When one drinks the koolaid, these things make a lot more sense.

    3. Re:Can't fault China... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      in the same way as the UN, which is run by the arabs

      Really? Wow, thanks for the information. I'll add it to my list.

      Arabs: Oil cartels, Terrorism, and the UN
      Hispanics: Drugs (Accounts receivable), New Communism
      Blacks: Drugs (Accounts payable), American recruiting for the Arab Terrorism industry
      Jews: Hollywood, the banking system
      Nazis: Fox News
      Illuminati: Congress, NASA
      Aliens: CIA, the Catholic Church.

    4. Re:Can't fault China... by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 2, Funny
      When one drinks the koolaid, these things make a lot more sense.

      Great, another Mac fanatic.

  3. yeah no company needs 1 billion customers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    whats the big deal?

  4. Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. by selfabuse · · Score: 5, Funny

    the Chinese?

  5. Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. by L1nux_L0ser83 · · Score: 2, Funny

    i would have to agree...other then producing the best, low cost , child sweat shops and product forgeries in the world...what does China really contribute to the world?

    --
    Good Karma, Bad Karma, doesnt matter to me... I'm still going to say whats on my mind!
  6. China may have walked out... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...but an hour later, they were hungry for meeting again.

  7. China walks out... by k4_pacific · · Score: 3, Funny
    From TFA:

    Following China's walkout, the resulting new coastal areas in central Asia are expected to provide new economic opportunities to the formerly isolated, landlocked region. A brief panic gripped the people of Japan, as China blocked out the sun for several hours as it stepped across the island nation. Geologists and the international community at large are eagerly waiting to see where and how the newly independent continent decides to settle. It was last seen striding across the South Pacific in a brisk huff towards the Isthmus of Panama. Panamanian officials have cautioned China to be careful as the newly mobile landmass will not fit through the canal and would need to carefully step over the fragile strip of land, which could be easily crushed into the seabed by an errant footstep. Representatives of the Chinese government could not be reached for comment.

    --
    Unknown host pong.
  8. Re:Not news until we find out why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They stormed out at the point that it was decided that all WAPs should be configured with a SSID of "default." China wanted it to be "linksys."

  9. i do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now we have to wait a few hours and call China, but hang up when they answer. If they pull that caller id crap, we have to say it was an accident. Then we'll run into them at some conference in a week and man, that shit is just awkward.

  10. Re:The question is... by antifoidulus · · Score: 3, Funny

    One can hope that it's better than your grammar or else we are all fucked.

    --
    Monstar L
  11. Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You left out chinese food.

  12. Who is China, anyway? by kwerle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is China some communications company I've never heard of? Or is the government in talks with the ISO board?

  13. Re:awww poor babies by Alioth · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's how pretty much all international politics is - at best, international politics resembles 8 year olds in the school yard. Unfortunately for those of us who just want to get on with our lives, these particular 8 year olds have nuclear weapons.

    --
    Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows